We were REALLY excited for Alissa and Maren to get to play together. They were so cute with eachother.
Mark and Barbara took us out to the Oquirrh Hills temple to walk around. It was freezing and windy, but was really neat to see it. There were cute neighborhoods right across the street, and we thought it would be so cool to have a house a block away from the temple!
Here's Andy playing with his bro's Iphone. As you can see, I'm less than thrilled that is sucks people into a trance!
The above pict. is a concert in the park they did one day in the summer. The singer travels around southern California and performs kids concerts. It was really cool!
This is an older picture of Maren. While she was going through the stage of not wanting a bottle, we would go to the temple and take turns doing a session. Well, she needed her nap, so she fell asleep in my arms, then I laid her in the trunk! We parked in the corner of the parking lot on purpose, but people would still drive by and wonder what was wrong! One man asked if I was having car problems, and I said, "no, but look what I found in my trunk!" lol, jk.
Here's Maren trying on a winter hat. Why do they sell these here? It doesn't get that cold!
My mom came out for a week to play with us also! She rode down with my dad's sister who went south to meet up with a friend. We had a grand time relaxing, doing Disneyland, and going to the parks. Here we are in the tea-cups. It's nice living near DL, because I came home in the middle of the day to let Maren nap, then picked up Andy after work, and met back up with Ann and my mom at nighttime. They had their Christmas lights on, and fake snow! and really good hot chocolate that cost as much as dinner:) 
Here's Maren in some Halloween clothes. Holidays are just more fun now that she can understand a little more. Andy and I have never really cared about Halloween, but now it's more fun for us bc of Maren.
For Mark's birthday(the 10th) we went to a Chivas game. This was the halftime show. If it lets you, enlarge this picture and look at the 3 little girls in the middle. They were so cute, and the one on the left really got in there for only being about 2 feet tall!!
Chivas ended up winning 2-0. I love the disputations with the ref every time there is a call. (As if he's going to go back on his call b\c the player is unhappy) :)
Maren will go to anyone now as long as they have legs to get her around to where she points to. She loves Pa though! As soon as you pick her up, she's pointing and has an agenda-really cute!
Earlier in the day, I had a soccer game, and here's Maren being happy to stand on her own. We lost, by the way, 4-2. The other team got lucky... jk, hehe.
Newport Beach\Balboa Island.
We rode the Balboa Island ferry over to the island and ate frozen bananas, rode a merry-go-round, and walked on the beach. 
We also visited the Newport Temple. Mark and Barb had never seen it. It really is beautiful. We had heard, (and talking with some members there confirmed it), that it was built strictly with member contributions from that area! How cool is that?!
Grandma and Maren
This last picture has nothing to do with the Hall's visit, but it is raining here! We can't remember the last time it rained. So today we were out running with the destination being: the park. As we were winding up our park time, it started raining. So I asked a park worker there if I could have a (clean) garbage bag, and I ripped holes in it for arms and a head, then gave Maren my sweatshirt. (I learned that little trick from fishing in the Uintas with my dad:) So we ran home and I promised myself not to look any drivers in the eye that drove by, so that if I saw someone I knew, they would possibly think it wasn't me! lol, We're weirdos, I know.
Mark and Maren reading together. Barbara, we LOVE the books you give us!!
The water wasn't too cold actually! This beach was Granada beach.
Sweet baby:)
Maren and I went back to Utah last week to visit. Andy had to stay and work, so we went alone. We sure missed him, but had a great time seeing family and friends. I was talking with a friend, and she and I agreed that when we take our kids on vacation to see family, they progress a lot faster that week than any others! The above trick is what Maren does when you ask, "How old are you, Maren?" :)
Here's my sister's kids, Romy and Ivy at the park. They are REALLY cute with Maren. I miss living close to Carrie!
My mom just retired from being a special-ed. kindergarten teacher, and she has a lot of fun songs and toys! Here's Sherry and Carson and Maren watching Grandma sing along to a stuffed animal song...Maren LOVES music(and Grandma).
We made it down to Utah Valley and saw some more family at my nephew's soccer game. I guess us being there was motivation enough for Mason to score 2 goals! It was fun to be there.
We got together with Andy's parents at Sugarhouse park. Pretty much any get together at the park will ensure happiness for Maren. She really took to Mark and Barbara for the short time we were there!!
Maren has started standing up in the middle of the floor, and laughing at the same time. It's really a sight to look at, and sooo funny!!
Here's my dad pushing Maren along in the scooter. It's just an awesome feeling to see your parents interacting with you child!
Another park day at my parent's neighbor's park. It was so fun to see family, and to relax this trip.
My mom is so fun to be with. We talked about everything from Politics, to Allergies, to 'Calling and election made sure' ( lol, Who even knows.....) I had a blast. It's nice to not be the 'mommy' for a minute, and to realize that I'll always need my mom.
In our current home, Maren's room is attached to our kitchen, making it really hard to do anything in there after she goes to sleep. And in our process of moving to our new place, we've been trying to prioritize ourselves. And the dishes were not anywhere near the top of the list! We don't have a dishwasher, so those dang dishes can pile up quickly!! Well, last night as we were getting ready to read, Andy starts pulling off the couch cushions and putting them in a line near the bathroom door. He told me to lay down on them, so I did. Then I see him starting to bring in all the dishes from the kitchen to the bathroom, so that he could wash them in the tub while I relaxed :) So as I kicked back, and Maren slept, he washed the dishes in the tub. 
I sent this picture below to Andy at work yesterday to make sure he had a good day like I was having. Looking at her smile and seeing that she is laughing from her belly makes me laugh when I look at it too.
That's about all for us. After church on Sunday, a boy in our class handed Andy a note that read,"I'm sorry Brother and Sister Hall." He was apologizing for being 'overly energetic' in class and sharing time. He's one of our favorites in that class, and probably knows more about the gospel than Andy and I put together:) Funny though, huh?!
While we were out of town, Maren had her 1 year birthday. Do we really have a 1 year old?? AHH! She is really fun right now. Here are some flowers next door to us, which she squeals at every time we go by.
Here's a view from Cape Mears lighthouse. This is about 25 minutes from Rockaway Beach(where we stay).
We went up to Cannon beach to ride these awesome bikes. When my bro's and sis and I were younger, we'd rent these and cruise around for hours. This is the first time in a long time that we've been on them again. They were so fun. They even had a trailer for Maren to ride in.
And here's our whole crew. Our cousins\aunts & uncles stayed in a different beach house b\c we've gotten so big, but here's all of my fam. (minus my dad-the photographer). 14 1\3 kids, and 12 adults!! It was so fun being together, especially at night when all the kids were asleep. We'd stay up and talk, laugh and eat Tillamook ice cream.
Haystack rock in Cannon beach. (Let's give a shout-out to where Goonies was filmed:)
Here's part of the cove at Oswald beach. This is probably my favorite part of our trip each time. It's a huge cove that you hike down into, and there are a lot of starfish and neat places to walk around.
Part of the family at Oswald.
Thanks to my bro Chad and his wife Sherry, we packed Maren around in this. She loved being so close to Andy's hair, ears and neck:) (Andy-you look handsome in this pict!)
Purple, orange starfish.
The grandkids all took turns spending time with my mom and dad. They all adore my parents, it's so fun to see that relationship.
Here's some of us at the 'Octupus tree' at Cape Mears. This tree is over 250 years old, and it never got a trunk, only lots of legs that look like octupus legs!
I really like lighthouses, and this one is not in service right now, but still cool to see.
Here's 2 of my neices- Audrey and Breanne. They could be seen like this the whole trip. They loved being able to spend so much time together. They arranged a performance for us one night that was similar to HS musical(I think)...it was really cute!
There's many cool views along the coast like this one.
Here's a picture from off the deck at our beach house. Each morning we'd go running and it was foggy, but burned off later in the morning.
Out the window from the drive from Portland to Tillamook.
This cool train was built by my dad's cousin. The kids all loved it, and Maren and I are in the front of the ranger.
My Grandpa's brother in law and my Grandpa.
Here's part of the farm where we had the reunion. It was beautiful out there. 
Before our flight on Friday, we drove to the Portland temple. It was at the end of a neighborhood covered in trees and shrubs.
Here's a picture of all the crew! Each year Grandma gives them Christmas PJ's to match. Kids look so cute in pajamas!